Chapter 80: Spare the Hair (Revised)

Four thick earthen walls quickly closed in, trapping the slowed Ying Duo firmly in the middle, leaving only an opening at the top.

This rock wall was far thicker and sturdier than the one in the medical office before, its surface shimmering with a flowing earth‑yellow energy sheen.

Obviously, this was an extra reinforcement aimed at the little gadgets in Ying Duo's hands.

Professor Luo De'an hurried forward to the edge of the rock prison, watching Ying Duo inside, poisoned and repeatedly pounding the rock wall in an attempt to break free, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

This absurd chase was finally able to come to an end.

Yang Yixie stared at the mission countdown frozen at 【00:00:47】 and began to consider how, in the remaining 47 seconds, he could save Ying Duo's hair.

As long as his own hair isn't shaved off, there's still a chance to complete the side quest!

Forty‑seven seconds! If I can hold out another 47 seconds, the mission is done! Experience! Attribute points! And that title!

His level has been stuck for a while; lately he's been busy grinding the proficiency of 【Modification】 and hasn't had a chance to level up.

Professor Luo De'an looked at Ying Duo inside, the culprit who had kept him chasing for nearly five minutes and caused half the Academy to go into chaos; it was both infuriating and amusing.

He seemed to suddenly understand why this kid had been so favored by Su Jingchuan.

But he also grasped Wu Tianming's objections; setting aside Ying Duo's mental state, the disruptive ability was simply too powerful.

Professor Luo De'an manipulated the earthen prison to sink slowly until it was level with the ground, leaving only a shallow pit that still restrained Ying Duo.

"Now, Ying Duo,"

Professor Luo De'an smoothed his slightly disheveled collar, his tone laced with a smile, but in Ying Duo's eyes he was no different from a devil.

"We can discuss the issue of your hair calmly and peacefully now."

He deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the four characters "calm and peaceful."

Ying Duo immediately switched to "negotiation" mode, a dialogue box popping up from his phone screen; if he couldn't win, he could only resort to verbal sparring.

"But cutting hair outside would cause Mutation pollution to the school environment, right?"

To boost credibility, Yang Yixie even fetched a pitiful meme.

The next second, the previously expressionless Ying Duo's eyes turned into fried‑egg shapes, and his speech came out in a trembling stutter, looking especially pitiful.

It's just...

A bit too abrupt.

So this kid can actually show other expressions.

Professor Luo De'an looked at his demeanor and almost burst out laughing.

He leisurely reached into the pocket of his white coat and produced a... a pair of gleaming, finely crafted medical scissors.

"Regarding this, your recent disruption of class was even more serious."

Professor Luo De'an elegantly twirled the scissors with his fingertips, the metal reflecting a cold glint.

"Moreover, Teacher Li Ya has expressed great 'concern' and 'assistance' regarding your health condition."

【00:00:12】

"She specifically offered the special debridement scissors from her medical office, which are used for handling Mutation creature tissue, so that I can cleanly and efficiently eliminate your 'hidden risk'."

That's clearly a public declaration of a private grudge!

Seeing that verbal delays were ineffective, Professor Luo De'an, to prevent any further trick, immediately used his ability, manipulating the soil like flowing shackles to firmly bind Ying Duo's body from the shoulders down in the earthen pit.

Only a Ying Guang Lu head remained exposed, looking like a poisonous mushroom waiting to be harvested...

Professor Luo De'an bent down; the debridement scissors hovered over a tuft of Ying Duo's most eye‑catching green hair, avoiding his fried‑egg‑shaped eyes that seemed filled with a death‑defying stare.

【00:00:03】

Yang Yixie steeled his heart, closed his eyes, ready to face Ying Duo's dazzling future and the damned failure prompt.

Just three seconds short!

Yet, at this hair‑raising moment.

"Professor! Under... ah, no, cut and keep the hair!"

A breathless voice came from afar.

The research assistant who had been in charge of delivering hair samples, barely noticeable before, hurried over from a side path.

He held a freshly printed analysis report still warm from the printer.

Professor Luo De'an paused, seeing that Ying Duo had already been restrained, and then calmly looked at him.

"The analysis results are in?"

The junior assistant finally caught his breath as he approached the two, hurriedly handing the report to Professor Luo De'an.

"Professor, this is the preliminary analysis of his hair! No, it must not be cut! Cutting it would only make things worse!"

"What?"

Professor Luo De'an instinctively furrowed his brow, took the report, skimmed it quickly, and the more he read, the tighter his brow became.

The assistant hurriedly explained the situation beside him.

"According to the analysis, this Mutation has already deeply affected Ying Duo's scalp hair follicles."

"In short, shaving all of Ying Duo's current hair would cause the new growth to likely be this Ying Guang Lu color; cutting it would also trap the Mutation inside, and the hair's emission would reduce brain damage."

He paused, pointing to another set of data in the report.

"More importantly, after we recalibrated the Mutation energy intensity standards, we found that the Mutation energy emitted by Ying Duo's hair, while of a special nature, is actually quite low."

"It's roughly equivalent to the outer edge of the Slum, an environment not protected by the Celestial Crown Barrier."

The assistant researcher wiped sweat, glanced at the Ying Duo still sporting a fried‑egg expression in the pit, then looked at Professor Luo De'an's shifting complexion and cautiously added.

"So strictly speaking, his hair itself isn't a traditional 'Mutation Source'; even for ordinary people, sudden contact would only have a minuscule chance of discomfort and would not cause real harm.

"And Luo Jinyou's strong reaction is mainly because his constitution is special, having been over‑protected and almost never exposed to Mutation energy before."

"When he suddenly came into close contact with Ying Duo, he experienced a severe stress response, but after a period of adaptation he'll be fine."

After that, the scene fell into an eerie silence.

Professor Luo De'an looked at the data on the report, then looked at the Ying Duo buried in the soil, only a lush green head remained.

Perhaps knowing its hair was safe, the Ying Duo's "fried-egg" expression had vanished, and now it returned to its usual blank expression.

Luo De'an silently put the cold-light flashing debridement scissors back into his pocket.

So... after all that trouble, this Ying Guang Lu not only cannot be shaved, but its harmfulness is practically nil?

The biggest "victim", Luo Jinyou, also merely needs time to adapt?

No, it should be said that he has already started adapting.

Professor Luo De'an rubbed his forehead with a headache; today he really lost all face.